Airressa looked over at him quite surprised, the last time she checked piggy back rides made no one move faster, but she had to remember she was somewhere new. "If you say so," she lifted herself up on him wrapping her legs and arms around him tight, her face inches away from his. He smelled of earth, but a good earthy smell, she liked it. She took a deep breath and readied herself for whatever was going to happen next.

Akeru grabbed onto her legs to make sure she wouldn't fall off. He glanced over his shoulder at her. "You might wanna hang on tight... and i hope you aren't afraid of heights." Akeru paused a moment, and focused some chakra into his feet. Then, he jumped up into the trees, and started leaping from branch to branch, carrying Airressa on his back like she was nothing.

Airressa couldn't help but scream as they raced into the air, leaping from branch to branch. She was terrified at first, but the strength of his arms holding on to her made her feel safe. She tightened her grip around him and whispered in his ear, "this is amazing."

Akeru blushed as she whispered into his ear. "Yeah, it is, isn't it?" He didn't sound cocky as he said it. He enjoyed leaping through the trees like this, it was second nature to him by now, he often did this to clear his head.

She rested her chin on his shoulder and closed her eyes, feeling the breeze brush against her cheeks as they floated through the air. She felt she had to be dreaming, but no, this was too real to be a dream. Her fingers started playfully moving about his chest without her realizing, when she noticed she stopped immediately and blushed, hoping he didn't notice.

He noticed. it was a good thing she couldn't see his face, because it was bright red. This girl had to be the biggest flirt he had ever met! Still, she stopped, and Akeru's face resumed it's normal color

Airressa felt herself drifting off to sleep on his shoulder, she quickly shook herself awake afraid she would loose her grip, "how much longer?" she asked him. Not that she didn't enjoy being so close to such a handsome man, but she would like to be on her own two feet again.

"We should be... ah, here we are." the trees started thinning out a bit, and they could see the walls and gate of the village. Akeru landed on the ground in front of the villages gate. He also kneeled down, and let go of Airressa's legs, allowing her to slide off his back.

She slid down and landed on her legs, she felt her legs wobble, not used to standing on them anymore and was once again on the ground. She sighed and looked up at him, "it seems I really like the grass here," she giggled standing back up. She looked around her and saw the city he spoke of, she ooed and awwed at the beautiful sight. She suddenly realized how dirty she was from her trip so far, "do you possibly have anywhere I could bathe and buy some new clothes?"

I nod. "Yeah, there are plenty of shops, but I should take you to the Hokage first... since you're not from around here, you will be considered a security risk for the whole village, unless the Hokage clears you."

"Oh, I see," Airressa replied, looking at him nervously. "Well I guess we should head there than?" she started following him down the streets of Konoha, it was different than any village she had ever seen before, there was a lot of brown and she decided immediately she liked the forest better.

Akeru led the way to a large building, where the Hokage's office was located. After taking several flights of stairs, they stopped in front of a large door on the top floor. Akeru turned to Airressa. "Listen the Hokage is the leader of this village, the most powerful ninja in all of Konoha. Please, try to show him some respect."

Airressa stood up straighter, cleared her throat, and prepared herself to be as polite as possible. They walked into the giant red building and she looked around at everything, it was so beautiful. Everyone inside seemed very strong and powerful and that scared her, she scooted closer to Akeru, wanting to grab his arm again. She opened her lips to say something, but decided she should stay quiet now until someone asked her a question. She waited patiently for Akeru to tell her what to do next.

Akeru knocked on the door, and waited for a moment. A voice from inside the room said "Enter." He opened the doors, and both he and Airressa stepped inside. The room was a large office, and behind the desk of the office sat a man with golden blonde spikes, whisker marks along his cheeks, and bright blue eyes. Seeing who entered his office, the man stood up and grinned.

"Akeru! How are you?"

Akeru smiled, and gave a small bow. "I'm well, Naruto-Sensei."

Naruto, the current Hokage, looked past Akeru and saw Airressa. "And who might this lovely young lady be?"

She looked at Akeru to see if he might say anything for her, but when he was silent she responded, "uhm, hello sir, my name is Airressa and I am from... well somewhere else. I am not sure how I got here but I promise I am of no harm and I was just wondering if..." she realized she was blabbering on and stopped, she had a real issue with that, "I'm sorry, that is all sir." She scooted even closer to Akeru, she was very nervous around this man.

The Hokage only chuckled. "It's ok, Airressa. I can tell you're no threat to this village. Until you find a way home, you're free to stay in this village as long as you like. Akeru, I want you to show her around and stay with her while she's with us."

"Understood, Naruto-Sensei. I can see you're busy with paperwork, so we'll let you get back to it."

Naruto sighed. "Yeah... I really need Sakura here to help me with these things... well, see you around, Akeru."

Akeru gave another short bow, and left with Airressa, shutting the door behind them.

Airressa smiled up at him very proud of herself, "so, did I do okay then?" she asked, jumping in front of him.She got up on her tip toes and kissed him delicately on the nose, "thank you so much for helping me, you probably saved my life out there in that forest." She turned back around and started walking towards the door, "so for that bath now?"

She blushed as well when he offered for her to stay with him, things she shouldn't be thinking started dancing about her head. She shook herself back into reality, "that would be very kind of you, thank you," she grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards the door, "now lets go so I can get myself cleaned up, I'm guessing you don't have any feminine clothes for me to borrow?" she giggled.

They get back to Akeru's house and he shows her the bathroom and grabs her a towel. She quickly runs in and starts taking off her damp, dirty clothes. Climbing into the warm steamy tub, she lays back enjoying every minutes of it. Her skins started to soften immediately, the water here for some reason felt more cleansing than any water she had ever washed herself in before. Finally, after a good half hour she climbed out of the tub and wrapped a towel around her clean, damp body. She walked out in to the room, deciding she would rather not put that dirty dress back on her newly clean self, "so, what can I wear for now, since I definitely don't want to put that dirty dress back on," she said giggling.

Akeru blushed, seeing Airressa wearing only a towel around her body. "I'll.... I'll see what I can find." He quickly rushed into his bedroom and went to his closet, digging through his old clothes. He finally found a black t-shirt and an older pair of pants that was getting too small for him. These would most likely still be too big for her, but they were better than nothing. 'Well, maybe not...' he thought to himself, blushing a bit. 'Wait, why am I thinking like that? stop it!' He screamed in his head. He walked out back to where Airressa was waiting, and handed her the clothes. "Here... it's not much, but it'll do for now, I think."

"It's more than what I am wearing," she giggled at her silly joke and took the clothes from him, she stepped closer kissing him on the cheek and thanking him. After changing into her new clothes which barely stayed on her body she walked back into the room with him. The black shirt hung over the side of her shoulder and the shirt was almost down to her knees, the pants barely stayed around her waste and she had tied them tighter with a ribbon she had in her purse. She laughed at herself and pulled up the pants, "so we should definitely go find me some clothes that fit."

"Yes, that would be a good idea. Come on." He opened the door and led her towards where the shops in the village were located. After searching around, he found one that looked like a woman's clothing store. "This looks like a good place to start. Hopefully you can find something you like..."

She picked out what looked similar to a white dress but had slits going up the sides, she handed it to the shop keeper and reached for her purse, 'right, I don't have money for this,' she sighed and looked over at Akeru, "sorry, I have no money."